Some favorite Chinese poems

Some favorite Chinese poems

If you love rhymes and the art of using words, you may love poems. And if you know Chinese, you will be satisfied with their huge poem collection. I love poems. One of my favorite kind of poem is Tang poem. Here is my personal poem collection. This post will be updated regularly to serve my hobby of learning and reading them.

Bright moonlight before my bed
Seems like frost upon the floor;
I raise my head and watch the moon,
Then lower it down and think of home.

黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵（拼音插图版）

Huánɡhèlóu sònɡ Mènɡhàorán zhī ɡuǎnɡlínɡ

gù rén xī cí huáng hè lóu

故 人 西 辞 黄 鹤 楼 ，

yān huā sān yuè xià yáng zhōu

烟 花 三 月 下 扬 州 。

gū fān yuǎn yǐng bì kōng jìn

孤 帆 远 影 碧 空 尽 ，

wéi jiàn cháng jiāng tiān jì liú

惟 见 长 江 天 际 流 。

Hoàng Hạc lâu tống Mạnh Hạo Nhiên chi Quảng Lăng

Cố nhân tây từ Hoàng Hạc lâu,

Yên hoa tam nguyệt há Dương Châu.

Cô phàm viễn ảnh bích không tận,

Duy kiến Trường Giang thiên tế lưu.

Dịch nghĩa

Bạn từ lầu Hạc lên đường

Giữa mùa hoa khói châu Dương xuôi dòng

Bóng buồm đã khuất bầu không

Trông theo chỉ thấy dòng sông bên trời.

Seeing off Meng Haoran Bound for Guangling

My old friend bade farewell to the Tower of Yellow Cranes in the west,
And headed downstream to Yangzhou amid March’s blooming scenes.
My eyes followed his lone sail into the distance to the verge of the blue sky,
Till the Yangtze gushing towards the horizon was all that could be seen.

The yellow crane has long since gone away,
All that here remains is yellow crane tower.
The yellow crane once gone does not return,
White clouds drift slowly for a thousand years.
The river is clear in Hanyang by the trees,
And fragrant grass grows thick on parrot isle.
In this dusk, I don’t know where my homeland lies,
The river’s mist-covered waters bring me sorrow.

“Toiling Farmers” was written by Tang Dynasty poet 李绅 (Lǐ shēn) to reflect the grueling working life of a farmer. The first two lines describe how the farmer toils with the hot noon sun bearing down on him, and he is essentially watering the crops with his sweat. The last two lines relates the farmer’s hard work with the food in people’s bowl, and that every grain of rice comes at the expense of hard labor.

Interestingly, in present day, this poem is often used at the dinner table by Chinese parents in order to teach their children about not wasting food.

锄禾日当午，

(Chú hé rì dāng wǔ,)
汗滴禾下土。

(hàn dī hé xià tǔ.)
谁知盘中餐，

(Shuí zhī pán zhōng cān,)
粒粒皆辛苦。

(lì lì jiē xīn kǔ)

English Translation:

Farmers weeding at noon,
Sweat down the field soon.
Who knows food on a tray
Thanks to their toiling day?

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This website is built firstly for me to log my memorable life events, to share my selective documents about learning languages and to create a place where all of the eager learners can contribute their knowledge and useful tips to other learners.